Shloka 29
Nārāyaṇasya Guhya-nāmāni Niruktāni (Etymologies of Nārāyaṇa’s Secret Epithets) / नारायणस्य गुह्यनामानि निरुक्तानि
अलें परिग्रहेणेह दोषवान् हि परिग्रह: । कृमिर्हि कोषकारस्तु बध्यते स परिग्रहात्,यहाँ विभिन्न वस्तुओंके संग्रहकी कोई आवश्यकता नहीं है, क्योंकि संग्रहसे महान् दोष प्रकट होता है। रेशमका कीड़ा अपने संग्रह-दोषके कारण ही बन्धनमें पड़ता है
alaṁ parigraheṇeha doṣavān hi parigrahaḥ | kṛmir hi koṣakāras tu badhyate sa parigrahāt ||
Nārada said: Here, there is no need for accumulating many possessions, for attachment to acquisition is indeed fraught with fault. The silkworm, though it fashions a cocoon, is bound precisely because of that very hoarding—its own collection becomes its bondage.
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
Excessive acquisition (parigraha) is inherently blameworthy because it breeds attachment and becomes a cause of bondage; contentment and non-accumulation are praised as conducive to freedom.
Nārada is instructing his listener within the Śānti Parva’s discourse on dharma and liberation, using the silkworm’s cocoon as a vivid example: what one gathers and builds for oneself can become the very trap that binds.